ORLANDO – After Liz Worden’s brace propelled the UCF women’s soccer team to victory over BYU on Monday, the Knights will head to Lubbock, Texas, with an eight-match unbeaten streak to face No. 15/6 Texas Tech in the regular-season finale on Thursday.
The match will begin at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT and will air live on ESPN+. Live stats can also be followed by visiting UCF.StatBroadcast.com.
The Black and Gold will head to Texas with an 11-2-4 record through 17 games, and a 5-1-4 Big 12 record and 19 points to sit in a tie for fifth place with Kansas and Baylor. The Knights have secured a spot for next week’s 2025 Big 12 Soccer Tournament presented by Allstate that will be held Nov. 3-8 at TCU and Baylor.
Following a 2-1 ranked victory over then-No. 16/10 Baylor on Senior Knight, UCF looked to improve its seeding for the conference tournament when it clashed with BYU on Monday.
Just nine minutes into the contest, Guta Franke received the ball after a BYU clearance. Her pass to Honoka Hamano was one-touched towards the top of the box, where Rajanah Reed collected it with her back to goal. After turning forward, Reed threaded a ball in between the defensive line into the box, after she spotted Liz Worden making a sneaky run in between two defenders. On her first touch, Worden finished with her left foot into the bottom corner of the net to give UCF the lead, marking the quickest goal the Black and Gold have scored in Big 12 conference play this season.
Only nine minutes later, the Knights struck again as Worden pounced on Hamano’s through ball, outpacing her defenders and burying it past the keeper into the center of the goal for her second of the day. Worden’s brace is the second for UCF this season, after Gabi Berchon’s late double against LSU on Aug. 24.
Liz Worden x2 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/9Bbk32ZCf8
— UCF Women's Soccer (@UCF_WSoccer) October 27, 2025
Despite BYU pulling one back late in the game, the Black and Gold were able to hold on to record their second straight victory, extending their current unbeaten streak to eight games.
SEASON LEADERS
Liz Worden’s brace on Monday against BYU brings her team-leading goal tally to seven, pipping Rajanah Reed’s six and Honoka Hamano’s four. Gabi Berchon follows with three goals and Ainsley Moy has two on the season. Tyra Eriksen, Ella Holloran, Jada Silvest, and Edidiong Etim have all chipped in with one each. Worden also tops the assist charts with eight, and the points charts with 22, as well as leading the team in total shots with 51. Reed continues to lead the shots on goal tally with 25 shots on frame.
After tying a season-high with seven saves on Monday, goalkeeper Genesis Perez Watson now totals 61 saves and an remarkable .836 save percentage, good for fifth in the Big 12 in both categories. She has played all 1530 minutes of the season for UCF.
EIGHT STRAIGHT OUTINGS UNBEATEN
The Knights will enter the week unbeaten in their last eight games. UCF’s last loss came on Sept. 25 at Arizona. Over the course of the last eight contests, the Black and Gold recorded back-to-back victories over then-No. 17 Arizona State (3-2) and Utah (2-0) before picking up consecutive 0-0 draws versus Kansas State and Cincinnati. UCF pulled out a 2-1 win at Oklahoma State before drawing 1-1 at Houston. The Knights then returned home to record back-to-back 2-1 victories over No. 16/10 Baylor on Thursday and BYU on Monday.
In all, the Knights hold just two losses on the year as they previously suffered a 1-0 setback to in-state foe FIU on Sept. 4. With an 11-2-4 overall record, the Black and Gold enter the weekend rated 26th nationally in the latest RPI rankings and are in a tie for fifth place in the Big 12 standings with a 5-1-4 clip.
2025 BIG 12 SOCCER TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY ALLSTATE
Following Thursday’s regular season finale, the top eight teams in the conference will advance to the 2025 Big 12 Soccer Tournament Presented by Allstate. The tournament’s quarterfinal and semifinal rounds will be contested at TCU’s Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium, on Nov. 3 and Nov. 5 respectively, while the championship match will be held at Baylor’s Betty Lou Mays Field on Nov. 8. UCF will enter Thursday in a tie for fifth place with 19 points with Kansas and Baylor. The Knights will enter next week’s Big 12 Tournament as either the fifth, sixth or seventh seed following Thursday’s action.
ABOUT TEXAS TECH
The Red Raiders (13-2-2, 7-1-2 Big 12) will enter Thursday currently ranked 15th by the United Soccer Coaches and No. 6 by Top Drawer Soccer. Texas Tech is in a tie for third place in the league standings with 23 points and will be looking to win the Big 12 regular season title and secure the number one seed in the conference tournament, needing a victory and possibly more on Thursday.
The Red Raiders have only fallen victim to defeat twice this season, losing 2-0 at San Francisco and 3-0 to then-No. 22/7 Colorado last week. Notable results include a 1-0 victory at then-No. 16/10 Baylor, a 2-0 victory over No. 21 Kansas, and a 1-1 draw against No. 17/15 TCU. Most recently, Texas Tech is coming off a 3-1 victory over Kansas State at home on Sunday.
TTU was picked to finish second in the Big 12 this year with two first place votes after going 15-5-2 and placing second in the 2024 conference standings following an 8-1-2 finish. Its 2024 season ended in the second round of the NCAA Championship, falling 3-0 to Duke, who went on to qualify for the Final Four. In the Big 12 Conference tournament championship, the Red Raiders fell 2-1 to eventual-Big 12 champions Kansas.
The Red Raiders are led by 2025 Big 12 Preseason Team Forward Taylor Zdrojewski, who leads her team and is runner-up in the Big 12 with her 33 points and 15 goals. Her scoring habits have garnered her three Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week awards, which include five braces and two five-point games, one of which came in Texas Tech’s most recent result, a 3-1 victory over K-State. Additionally, the junior forward’s three assists places her in fourth on her team, only behind 2025 Big 12 Preseason Team Midfielders Peyton Parsons (4) and Sam Courtwright (6), and 2025 Big 12 Preseason Team Defender Macy Blackburn (11).
Blackburn has been a stalwart at the back for Texas Tech, playing her part in eight clean sheets for the Lone Star State side. Offensively, the redshirt senior defender has assisted 11 goals, a number that leads the Big 12, is fourth nationally, and first for all defenders nationally. Her 11 assists have helped her claim the title as the all-time assist leader in Texas Tech program history. She has scored four goals this season, a number that puts her in third on her team. Blackburn has taken home three Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week awards, as well as Top Drawer Soccer Preseason All-American First Team accolades, and was recently nominated for the midseason MAC Hermann Trophy watchlist.
In goal, shot-stopper Faith Nguyen has played in all 17 games for the Red Raiders this season, posting a .787 save percentage, making 48 saves while only conceding 13 goals. Her eight clean sheets are second in the Big 12 only behind West Virginia’s Bailey Herfurth’s and Kansas State’s Maddie Sibbings’ nine. Nguyen was named as a goalkeeper on the 2025 Big 12 Preseason Team.
The Red Raiders are coached by 18th-year head coach Tom Stone, who is the winningest coach in Texas Tech women’s soccer program history. Stone is the first coach in program history to take the Red Raiders to the NCAA Tournament and was tabbed the Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2023.
SERIES HISTORY VS. TEXAS TECH
Thursday’s conference finale will be only the third all-time meeting between UCF and Texas Tech, and the first away from the UCF Soccer Complex. The sides first met in 1996, where the Knights played out a 2-0 victory. UCF and TTU’s most recent meeting ended in a 1-1 draw on Oct. 12, 2023, courtesy of former Knight Maggie Jenkins’ goal.
GENESIS PEREZ WATSON’S STELLAR SEASON
UCF goalkeeper Genesis Perez Watson has had an impressive season so far, commanding a back line that has only conceded 12 goals, or 0.71 per game. Perez Watson’s six clean sheets bests her two from 2024, and she has set career highs in save percentage (.836) and goals against average (.710), with the latter putting her in fourth in the Big 12. Her 61 total saves see her in fifth place in the conference standings.
After recording a pair of clean sheets against Utah and K-State recently, Perez Watson also took home Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week and Big 12 Conference Goalkeeper of the Week honors.
SILVEST AND ERIKSEN RANKED IN TOP DRAWER SOCCER MIDSEASON TOP 100
Redshirt sophomore defender Jada Silvest has been included in Top Drawer Soccer’s Women’s Midseason Top 100 Players list, taking the 80th spot, while freshman forward Tyra Eriksen was included as No. 58 on Top Drawer Soccer’s Midseason Top Freshmen.
Silvest has been an instrumental player for the Black and Gold this season, playing 90 minutes in all but two contests, in which she featured for at least 80 minutes in both. Silvest has been a key contributor to the Knights’ six clean sheets in 2025, and has chipped in offensively as well, with a goal against then-No. 16/10 Baylor and a pair of assists on the season.
Eriksen, a true freshman from Sweden, has had a strong season for the Knights in which she has scored one goal and also recorded a pair of assists so far during her debut season at the college level. She has tallied a total of 14 shots with four shots coming on target on the year. The striker has played in all 17 matches with 13 starts for the Black and Gold.
BEST START AT THE D1 LEVEL
The Knights began the 2025 season with an unblemished 5-0-0 start. The 5-0 record marked the Black and Gold’s best start to a season in program history at the NCAA Division I level and the best since the program's inaugural season of competition in 1981 when UCF opened a perfect 7-0.
UCF opened the year with a 2-1 victory on the road at UAB and followed it up with a trio of home wins over Florida Atlantic (3-1), South Florida (4-1) and LSU (2-1). The Knights then defeated their second straight SEC foe on Aug. 28 with a 1-0 shutout victory at Florida.
UCF has outscored the opposition 26-12 on the season and after Liz Worden’s brace against BYU on Monday, she now paces the squad in goals (7), assists (8), points (22), and shots (51). Rajanah Reed leads the team with her 25 shots on target, and is right behind Worden with six goals, three assists, 15 points, and 46 shots.
Now at 11-2-4, the record marks the Black and Gold’s best at this point in the season since 2017 when the team achieved a 13-1-3 record through 17 games.
4-1 AGAINST SUNSHINE STATE FOES
The Knights capped non-conference play with a solid 4-1-0 record against Sunshine State foes on the season.
The Black and Gold first pulled out back-to-back home wins over Florida Atlantic (3-1) and South Florida (4-1), before shutting out the Florida Gators on the road by a score of 1-0. UCF then suffered a 1-0 setback in its first loss of the season to FIU at home on Sept. 4, but responded with a 2-0 victory at North Florida in the Black and Gold's non-conference finale on Sept. 11.
LATE GAME MAGIC
UCF has scored a pair of game-winning goals with the clock winding down against SEC foes on the season.
All deadlocked at 1-1 and less than 30 seconds to play against SEC foe LSU, the Knights found themself in a goal line scramble. Gabi Berchon took a shot from the center of the box with 17 seconds to go but LSU’s keeper was there to make the save. The ball then bounced over to Tyra Eriksen and she got off another shot that was again saved, but the ball deflected to Berchon right in front of the goal and she was able to slot it home for the dramatic game winner with just 11 seconds on the clock.
Scoreless at Florida just days later and in the 87th minute, Guta Franke fed a deep pass over the top to Liz Worden. Worden then deflected it ahead to Reed on the right side of the box and the senior forward was able to drill a late strike into the back of the net to propel UCF to another thrilling victory.
UP NEXT FOR UCF
Following the regular season finale, UCF will await the final results around the league to determine its seed in the 2025 Big 12 Soccer Tournament Presented by Allstate. The Knights will travel to TCU’s Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium to play on Monday, Nov. 3, with the opponent and time to be determined.
